Streetcar proponents have spent considerably more on their campaign than the anti-streetcar people, probably because Issue 48 is so wide-reaching it has brought out people concerned with things way more important than the streetcar such as regional planning, commuter rail and making Cincinnati not look like it totally sucks.

Also being outspent are the SB 5 supporters, who have seen support decline dramatically in recent weeks as people look around their neighborhoods and see a bunch of regular people whose rights would be taken away. And Building a Better Ohio does unethical things like this, which makes people think they are meanies.

Here's a blog about City Council candidate Chris Smitherman arguing against all the legal experts who say Issue 48 will block all rail construction through 2020.

Cincinnati officials today released an updated list of City Hall employees who have unpaid parking tickets, and the list includes members of the Police and Fire departments.

A total of 311 municipal employees have delinquent parking tickets, totaling $30,662 in unpaid fines, as of May 4th. That amounts to about 0.25 percent of the total amount of delinquent tickets, said a city spokeswoman.

Councilman Chris Seelbach introducing legislation Monday

In partnership with the Cincinnati Police Department, City Councilman Chris Seelbach on Thursday unveiled a legislative plan that
would crack down on cellphone thefts by making it more difficult to sell
stolen devices.

“We know that the cellphone is such an important part of
everyone’s lives,” Seelbach says. “It’s how we connect to our loved ones,
to our work environment. It’s how we capture moments that we want to
remember. And so to have something like that stolen is definitely an offense
that is personal.”

Americans are increasingly using cellphones for more than
making calls. Applications now let people browse the Internet, social
media and even bank accounts. But the diversity of uses has also linked
cellphone theft to other crimes, such as identity theft.

The initiative will require the hundreds of dealers who currently buy
cellphones second-hand to get licensed with the city and keep full
records of the transaction, including a serial number of the device, a photocopy of the seller’s ID and other contact information.
Seelbach likened the requirements to existing regulations for pawn
shops.

The hope is that cracking down on dealers will make stolen
cellphones more difficult to sell and less lucrative to potential
thieves.

Seelbach says the plan will come at no extra cost outside
of the extra policing work. Acting Cincinnati Police Chief Paul
Humphries says the police department prefers taking preventive measures
that stop cellphone theft in the first place than spending costlier
resources on investigating a robbery after it happens.

If the legislation is approved by City Council, police
officers will first take steps to educate dealers about the new law.
Shortly after, police will begin cracking down with fines.

Officials are also advising cellphone owners to take their
own steps to avoid having devices stolen: Never leave a phone
unattended, avoid using a cellphone in public when it’s unnecessary and
put a password lock on the phone.

Similar laws already exist at the state level, but they’re currently not enforced, Seelbach says.

The plan will go through a City Council committee on Monday
and, if approved there, a full session of City Council on Wednesday. Seelbach says he’s expecting unanimous support from
fellow council members.

An organization called Citizens' League Against Subsidized Sports is gathering signatures for a ballot measure that would add a tax on Reds and Bengals tickets. Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann says he knows that the county's lease doesn't allow it to institute a ticket tax but that it doesn't say anything about a citizens' initiative.

Police costs are rising even though the force is shrinking, partially because it hasn't hired any new officers since 2008 while the top ranks have held steady.

The SB 5 debate is expected to draw a high voter turnout, which could bode well for school levies as voters come out to vote "no" on Issue 2.

Deputies deployed Taser during confrontation

A Sycamore Township man died overnight after the Hamilton
County Sheriff’s Office used a Taser to subdue him during a brief
struggle.

While responding to a 911 call, deputies found Gary Roell, 59,
half-clothed and smashing windows behind a resident’s home, according
to the police report. When deputies ordered Roell to the ground, he
charged at them and punched one of the officers in the face. The
deputies then shot Roell on the back with a Taser to physically restrain
and handcuff him.

After he was taken into custody, Roell began having
labored breathing, and emergency medical services were called, the
report reads. But before ambulances arrived, Roell stopped breathing.
Despite attempts by deputies to revive Roell with CPR, he was pronounced
dead upon reaching the hospital.

Roell reportedly suffers from bipolar
depression and schizophrenia, which can lead to a distorted view of
reality. He had apparently stopped taking his medication.

Two key facts remain unknown: whether the Taser led to
Roell’s death and how many times the Taser was actually used. Jim Knapp,
spokesperson for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, says those
issues will be investigated by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Criminal
Investigative Section and the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office.

Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil says the officers followed protocol, given Roell’s violent behavior and actions.

For some, the question is whether police protocol is
correct in the first place. Advocacy group Amnesty International has
been asking police departments around the country to scrutinize
standards for deploying a Taser.

A 2012 report from Amnesty International
found at least 500 people died in the United States between 2001 and
2012 after being shocked with Tasers during their arrests or while in
jail. On average, that’s nearly four deaths around the country each
month.

But if officers don’t use Tasers, they must resort other
non-lethal tools, such as pepper spray or a baton, that require getting
closer to a target. That, police experts argue, could lead to more
injuries.

A new survey by the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater
Cincinnati found that local teenage marijuana use is up slightly. Mary
Haag, president and CEO of the coalition, says it’s the organization’s
biggest concern — makes sense considering the organization is dedicated
to creating a drug-free Cincinnati, but shouldn’t someone be concerned
about this, too?

Cincinnati police will stop using a certain breathalyzer machinedue
to a recent court ruling that the machine must be cleared after
each use. City Prosecutor Charlie Rubenstein says attorneys are
consistently questioning in court the Intoxilyzer 8000’s use,
causing a backload of cases.

In response to heated negotiations over the price of Viacom networks such as Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central, DirecTV
this week told its users where to find Viacom content online for free (Viacom's website).
Viacom yesterday shut down the free streaming shows, replacing them with
a video explaining how to complain to DirecTV that SpongeBob SquarePants isn’t available and your kids are pissed.

An amendment in the Ohio House budget bill last week would make it so universities have to decide
between providing voting information to students or retaining millions
of dollars in out-of-state tuition money. The amendment would make it so
universities have to classify students as in-state — a classification
that means lower tuition rates — when providing documents necessary for
voting. Republicans claim the measure is “common sense” because anyone
voting for Ohio’s elections should be an Ohio resident. But the
amendment has provoked criticism from Democrats and universities alike,
who say universities are being thrown into the middle of a voter
suppression scheme.

An analysis from left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio found
the tax plan currently working through the Republican-controlled Ohio
legislature favors the wealthy.
The analysis also claimed there’s little evidence the across-the-board
tax cuts suggested would significantly help Ohio’s economy.
The plan still needs to be approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio
Senate and Republican Gov. John Kasich.

Council members are asking Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig to remain in Cincinnati
instead of taking a job in Detroit, but City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr.
didn’t seem convinced that much can be done. Dohoney said Craig’s
hometown is Detroit, a city that has suffered in recent years as the
local economy has rapidly declined.

Democratic Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald is running for governor, and he will make Cincinnati one of his first stops
for his campaign kick-off tour. FitzGerald is challenging Republican
Gov. John Kasich in 2014, who has held the governor’s office since 2010. A recent poll found Kasich in a comfortable position with a nine-point lead on
FitzGerald, but many respondents said they don’t know enough about
FitzGerald to have an opinion on him.

Greater Cincinnati home sales hit a six-year high in March,
with 2,190 homes sold. The strong housing market, which is recovering
from a near collapse in 2008, is widely considered by economists to be a
good sign for the overall economy.

But Ohio’s venture capital investments dropped to a two-year low, according to data from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.

The Ohio EPA and Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District are partnering up to provide a $250,000 grant to help purchase equipment to screen, clean and sort glass — an important part of the recycling industry.

Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld is asking Cincinnatians to
forgo lunch on April 24 to take part in the Greater Cincinnati Day of
Fasting. The event will let participants “experience a small measure
of the hunger that is a part of many people’s daily lives,” according to
a press release from Sittenfeld’s office. Participants are also being
asked to donate money to the Freestore Foodbank. A ceremony for the
event will be held on April 24 at noon in Fountain Square.

The Cincinnati police officer who struck a pedestrian with his cruiser on Saturday was apparently driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone, which violates the Cincinnati Police Department's guidelines that limit officers from driving more than 20 mph above the posted limit. Officer Orlando Smith was responding to a call to help an officer when he struck Natalie Cole of Dayton, Ky. She remains in critical condition at University Hospital Medical Center following the incident. CPD is conducting an investigation that is expected to be completed within two weeks. But Smith's cruiser camera mysteriously failed to record for three minutes as the events unfolded; the latest recording available prior to the incident shows Smith leaving a grocery store parking lot with his lights and sirens on, as required by department policy when responding to help an officer. Witnesses told WCPO that Smith was actually driving in excess of 60 mph without his siren on and the victim flung 40 feet after she was struck. Smith is on paid administrative leave as the investigation finishes, which is routine police procedure.

City Council's Budget and Finance Committee will hold its final scheduled meeting today, less than three weeks before the new mayor and council are sworn in on Dec. 1. The committee's agenda is fairly packed after council canceled so many meetings throughout September and October for election season, but most of the items are uncontroversial incentive packages that aim to bring jobs and develop more housing opportunities in the city.

The achievement gap between white and black students in Ohio grew in the past two years, according to the results from a series of tests known as "the Nation's Report Card" from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Chad Aldis, the vice president for Ohio policy and advocacy at the Fordham Institute, told StateImpact Ohio the results are disappointing because the achievement gap between black and white students in Ohio was already way too big and above the national average in math and English, the two categories in which the gap widened. Overall, Ohio's students ranked slightly above the national average in all areas but showed no significant improvement since 2011. Aldis says Ohio's adoption of Common Core standards, a set of stricter expectations for students embraced by 45 states, should help challenge students and lead to improvement.

Here is an interactive map of marijuana seizures in Ohio this year, which were down from a record high in 2010. Some experts say marijuana and other drugs should be legalized following the failure of the decades-long
war on drugs to seriously curtail supply and demand, as CityBeat covered in further detail here.

Mayor-elect John Cranley on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. will answer questions from readers and the editorial board at The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The Cincinnati area's most prominent white-collar crime case will start hearings in December after a jury is picked by the end of the month in the trial of Matt Daniels, the former Kenwood Towne Place developer who's accused of various charges of fraud. Daniels' attorney talked tothe Business Courierhere.

Gang-related activity driving increase in violence, according to police

Heads of the Cincinnati Police Department testified in
front of City Council’s Law and Public Safety Committee Monday to
address the local increase in homicides.

The city’s homicide rate hit 25 per 100,000 residents in 2013, compared to the U.S. rate of 4.7 per 100,000 in 2012, following a spike in homicides in
Over-the-Rhine, downtown and the west side of Cincinnati, according to
police statistics.

“The concern has been the sheer number of homicides we
experienced in 2013 and the number of juvenile victims we had this
year,” said Assistant Chief Dave Bailey.

Councilman Christopher Smitherman also highlighted the
high levels of black-on-black crime, which Chief Jeffrey Blackwell
agreed are unacceptable across the country.

“My fear is that my son, who’s African-American … is
going to be killed by another African-American,” Smitherman said.
“That’s what those stats are saying.”

The key driver of the increases, according to police, is
gang-related activity, particularly activity involving the Mexican drug cartel that
controls the heroin trade.

Chief Blackwell explained the increase in homicides
appears to be particularly related to disruptions in criminal organizations and their
territories.

“Criminal territories have been disrupted, and we’ve seen
an increase in turf wars and neighborhood situations between young
people,” he said. “Most of the homicides are personal crimes between two
known victims. Very rarely are they random in nature.”

Councilman Kevin Flynn asked what council could do to help remedy the situation.

“We are significantly short of police officers, so we
desperately need a recruit class,” Blackwell responded. “We need to
improve our technology platform here in the police department.”

Blackwell cautioned that there’s not a direct correlation
between more police officers and less homicides, but he said another
recruit class could help the city meet basic needs.

Flynn claimed council is very willing to meet those needs, given the importance of public safety to the city’s prosperity.

“If we’re not safe and we don’t have the perception that
we’re a safe city, none of the rest of the great things we do as a city
are going to help,” he said.

How council meets those needs while dealing with fiscal concerns remains to be seen, considering Mayor John Cranley and a majority of council members ran on the promise of structurally balancing the city’s operating budget for the first time in more than a decade.

City officials have vowed to avoid raising taxes and cutting basic services, which makes the task of balancing the budget all the more difficult. Advancing promises of more spending for the police department further complicates the issue, even if it’s politically advantageous in a city seriously concerned about public safety.

Cincinnati Police will hold several town hall meetings in
the next week to hear concerns from citizens. The meetings will span
across all local districts:• District 2: Jan. 7, Medpace, Inc., 5375 Medpace Way.• District 3: Jan. 8, Elder HS Schaeper Center, 3900 Vincent.• District 1 and Central Business District: Jan. 9, River of Life Church, 2000 Central Parkway.• District 5: Jan. 13, Little Flower Church, 5560 Kirby Ave..• District 4: Jan. 14, Church of the Resurrection, 1619 California Ave.

Correction: The local homicide rate for 2013 was 25 per 100,000 residents, contrary to the 15.5 per 100,000 rate cited by police officials to City Council.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson addressed Occupy Cincinnati yesterday at Piatt Park. Later in the day 15 individuals were arrested for staying in the park past its 10 p.m. closing time, the first arrests in weeks, as protesters have challenged the legality of the park closing at all. Jackson was reportedly scheduled to return to the park at noon on Wednesday to again speak with Occupy Cincinnati.